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Debbie Dujanovic reporting
Produced by Kelly JustMillions and millions of your tax dollars pay for the miles and miles of sound walls that border Utah freeways. Kaysville homeowners were thrilled to learn that a plan to widen I-15 included two of them. But with one wall complete and the other halfway built, residents contacted KSL's Investigative Team. They say the $2 million walls don't work: government wasted your money.
Freeway sound walls are everywhere. You may think that if you've seen one you've seen them all -- a huge barrier you can't see over, whether you're the driver flying by one or the homeowner living on the other side. That may be true, except if you live near two new sound walls in Kaysville.
Even with the barriers, residents like Sean Cooreman have a clear view of the freeway. He told KSL, "It's more of a vanity wall than it is a sound wall."
Neighbor Susan Lee agreed. "It is too short," she said.
"So this is what we get," added a somewhat baffled Ken Hacking.
It has been a bumpy road for two neighborhoods along I-15 in Davis County. First, state officials announced to one neighborhood that the freeway is expanding -- you get a sound wall. Then the state changed its mind, said it is not loud enough after all. So there will not be a wall. Homeowners decided to pay for their own private study and proved to the state that they do deserve a wall. It was great news for residents, until the posts appeared.
Lee and her neighbors believed their new wall would match other walls -- reach just as high, cut out just as much noise. They did not expect to see such a small structure.
"We knew right away it was going to be too small," said Lee.
"It's not gonna do a whole lot other than appearance-wise it might look good," added Cooreman.
Up the road, Ken Hacking returned from vacation to find posts shorter than he expected. He thought the wall would be tall enough to shield backyard decks from all that noise.
"I didn't assume it would be so you could see the traffic just like before," said Hacking.
So did residents here get shorted? When conversations hit a road block with UDOT, residents turned to KSL. We decided to do the obvious and test the walls ourselves.
Richard Lenz not only lives in the area, he is also sound engineer. He says it is obvious. A taller wall would have blocked the freeway view and cut more noise.
"One panel is all they would have gone up," suggested Lenz, "and this discussion wouldn't even be taking place right now."
In fact, there are plenty of homes protected by taller walls than these. We had no trouble finding several that do completely cover decks and even the rooftops of homes.
Next we had Lenz show us how to use our decibel meter so we could measure noise levels at the one Kaysville wall that's done. UDOT policy says anything higher than 65 decibels qualifies you for a sound wall. But even with a new wall in place, our meter shows it is still louder than 65 decibels in this back yard and as high as 78 decibels up on the deck.
"It would be so much easier if they had just gone up another 3 or 4 feet," said Lenz.
UDOT says it's not so simple. Region One Director Corey Pope explained that there is a complicated formula used to design sound walls. Plus, the state had to stay within a $2 million budget. "We rely on a nationally accepted model to determine how high these walls need to be," said Pope.
The model decided that in Kaysville, the walls would be two panels high. And Pope believes the design is working. "It does provide a physical block between the noise source and the backyards," he said.
What about our test results? Pope assured us that the wall has significantly reduced noise levels from where they started. But UDOT does not go back and test the walls like we did. The agency trusts that the computer model got it right. But this battle doesn't end with height and noise.
"Do you think it was a good use or an effective use of taxpayer money?" asked KSL.
"I believe it was," replied Pope. "Know we've done some pretty substantial efforts and I am very confident that it's made a big difference."
The residents are not convinced. "It seems like a waste of money," said Cooreman.
"I think anytime you spend money to do a partial job, you're wasting money," added McCarty.
UDOT points out that it has done more than put in sound walls to cut the noise. The lanes of I-15 in that area have been resurfaced with a quieter kind of asphalt and some lanes were relocated farther away from homes.
Does UDOT have any plans to stop work on the one Kaysville wall that is incomplete and review the design? No, construction is proceeding.
E-mail: iteam@ksl.com
